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Bang and Olufsen Beovox Woofer Replacement (easy)

Introduction: Bang and Olufsen Beovox Woofer Replacement (easy)

How to replace a woofer in a beovox model B&O; speaker. They commonly rot out, and it's an easy fix, as long as you aren't an anal retentive B&O; fan who wants everything original. I chose to replace mine with Goldwood 8" woofers, about $17 each, available at partsexpress.com. They now sound fantastic! :)

Beovox S55 Bang and Olufsen Woofer Replacement (easy)

Step 1: Check Your Woofers, Mine Were Shot

B&O; typically uses really crappy foam suspension on their woofers which rot out in a 5-15 years. Mine were shot, so I ordered new goldwood woofers to replace them. Just be sure they're about 8" in diameter, and more than 6.4 ohms (the original impedance of the freaking weird woofers they used). This shot is after I had already taken them out.

Removal:

Lay speaker on it's back. Use a phillips to remove 6 screws holding the entire plastic speaker face onto the cabinet. Seperate. Lie the black plastic faceplate on the ground, with the speakers facing down. Snip the wires to your woofer, as closely to the woofer as possible. Remove the 4 phillips screws holding the clamps onto the woofer. Now, compare your old woofer to your sweet new one!

Step 2: Modify Your New Speakers for B&O Use!

Bang and Olufsen doesn't do anything normally. Special fancy speaker cables, stupid expensive turntable cartridges, they don't even mount their drivers inside their speaker cabinets normally. Instead, they use a clamp system (normal speakers use screws or bolts). Whatever replacement woofers you bought, chances are they have holes along the edges for mounting them like most normal people. Unfortunately, those holes are not in the original speaker, and they'll allow bass and sound to exit from inside the cabinet if you install them that way. Luckily, there is a simple solution:

Silicone! Just squeeze some silicone caulk into the holes, and even it out. It doesn't have to be perfect, as it's soft enough to conform to the cabinet.

Step 3: Modify Foam Batting

Your new woofer will probably have a bigger magnet than the wimpy B&O; one, so trace it with a marker, then cut it out.

Step 4: Solder New Woofer

Simple enough. Only two wires. Red= +. Black = -. I like to hook my wires around the speaker connections before soldering, it makes it easier.

Step 5: Reinstall and Enjoy!

I think you should be able to figure this part out. Just be sure to center the woofer before tightening down the clamps!

As long as it makes you happy I guess.
Foam surrounds were common for many years. They were great in that they took Zero hours to break in. They sucked because the foam would in fact deteriorate. To fix this problem they came up with re-foaming kits. You can still get re-foaming kits on line for less than what you have in new drivers.
And yes, all of the comments about how asininely esoteric the B&O; stuff is are true. Eff those guys.

I checked for refoams, but for the LEGIT refoams that are exactly the right size, shape, and strength of foam they were $22 plus shipping. That, and I'm not sure I'd get do it perfectly, so instead I spend $34 plus shipping on entirely new drivers. Not a bad idea, IMHO. Especially since the new ones are so much better. :)

I'd definitely get the correct foams. Speakers, especially high quality ones like B&O; are designed with everything perfectly matched, and finely tuned. Changing the drivers might sound good, but numerous things will now be out of balance. I can guarantee using the correct drivers (with new foams) would sound much better. If you don't have the confidence to do the refoam, find a handy friend :)

Not bad, I've got nice technics towers, I'm not sure if they're rubber surround foam or not (most likely are as you can tell it feels like they're worked in) But I think the guy before me had cats or something, the grill has scratch marks and the foam on the top woofer on both have small little holes in the foam. This prolly won't make it sound worse will it?

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